UCC Election Mission Releases Report

On March 27, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) Election Observer mission presented a preliminary report outlining its findings on the March 26 parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

Representatives of the mission stated that they received excellent cooperation from Ukraine’s election control bodies.

“Generally, we have received superb coordination from Ukraine’s central and local election commissions and from all parties across the country,” said Paul Grod, who headed the UCC mission.

Grod, and mission’s Chief Observer, Marc Shwec, held a press conference at the Ukrainian National Information Agency on March 27 to announce the findings in the election mission’s preliminary report.

The report concluded that in their opinion the “parliamentary elections were free, fair and transparent and were conducted in a peaceful non-violent atmosphere with some minor exceptions.”

The local election, which took place on the same day, had an impact on the efficiency of the electoral process. “Because of the multiple concurrent elections, there were long lineups at most polls,” the report stated.

Other procedural problems noted by the UCC observers were the lack of adequate staffing at “many polling stations” and “difficulties with the voting lists.”

The UCC mission estimated that as a result of these issues, some 20 per cent of the polling stations opened late.

The report mentioned many positive aspects of the process, including the fact that Ukraine’s legislation provided the framework for the “conduct of free, fair and transparent elections,” that the government did not interfere in the electoral process and that “public media equally and equitably presented free television and radio broadcasts allocated to parties and blocs.”

The joint observation mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Council, the European Parliament, and NATO had similar positive conclusions in its preliminary election report released on March 27. Their report stated that Ukraine met its commitments to the OSCE and allowed Ukrainians to make a free and conscious choice.

“These elections can only be described as free and fair. So it is the Ukrainian people who are the real winners,” OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Alcee Hastings told journalists in Kyiv on March 27.

Yaroslav Davydovich, the head of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission said that 3,500 foreign and some 290,000 domestic observers monitored the March 26 parliamentary vote.

The UCC mission consisted of 9 mid-term observers and 139 short-term observers. The final election report is scheduled to be released in approximately eight weeks.